Booval War Memorial

Booval, Ipswich Area

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One of Australia's best known sculptors, Daphne Mayo, is believed to have created the Booval WWI memorial while apprenticed to Ipswich monumental mason Frank Williams. The memorial, a slightly smaller than life-sized soldier standing on a plinth, was unveiled on 15 February 1919 by Governor Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams.

The marble and granite memorial honours the 221 local men who served during WWI.

A committee representing the Ipswich suburbs of Booval, Silkstone, Newtown and Raceview had raised £499 through entertainment and public subscriptions during the previous year. A voluntary 'working bee' had prepared the foundations.

War had delayed Daphne Mayo from taking up a travelling scholarship and she bided her time learning the art of carving with Williams. The Booval statue is attributed to her because of timing and the strong resemblance it bears to a model she made. Its style echoes Williams'.

Mayo's work includes the Brisbane City Hall tympanum and the Queensland Women's War Memorial in Brisbane's ANZAC Square.

Plaques honouring 16 local men who died in WWII as well as tributes to later conflicts have since been added.